If social distancing and masks are not necessary in thousand-person clusters of protesters, then WHY ARE ANY BUSINESSES, MASSES, AND ACTIVITES STILL S

[esieffe]

This whole notion that they [masks, social distancing etc.] are not necessary will only lead to lost lives. Virologists, doctors, and related professionals around the world agree with that. This is the same thinking that led natives to chase “Doctors without borders,” out of Ebola ridden villages in Africa.

This boils down to “if you can’t see it, it can’t hurt you” thinking. There were people in 1918 who felt that way too.

 

[TMC]

At the root of every scam is either power, money or sex. I have not been able to figure out who gets rich, powerful or hooked up due to the shutdowns.

Well, whoever it is must be massively powerful, to have scammed not only the entire United States, but also all of Europe and most of the rest of the world!

 

[Poet]

Barbers and stylists can only do styling/haircuts if they have a license in this country. One cannot just set up a shop and run it however they see fit. The same way a restaurant must be licensed and inspected.

Being a hair stylist is not an absolute right. My stylist friend/salon owner went and got a different job when she could not open. The businesses that stayed open have not been able to get enough people, they are paying bonuses and it was possible to apply today and start work tomorrow!

Edit to add: I just had Arby’s for lunch. They are advertising that they now have a “work today, get paid today” program! Wow! That would be a great fill in job!

Re the “snitch line”, every law enforcement agency in the US, every municipality, every state licensing board, every DCFS, has a tip line.

In civil debate, when someone makes a claim and someone asks it to be substantiated, “go look it up yourself” is not conducive to reasonable, civil debate.

The salon owner, the barber in Michigan–both were properly licensed and we have a problem in this country if licenses can just be abruptly yanked to the point of 40 million people being without work overnight. Clearly you and I are not going to agree on this but my personal opinion remains that it is horrifying and flat out wrong that someone who had done nothing wrong, who was trying to feed her family, who was following all the guidelines, was arrested.

You are the one who wanted a link proving there are such lines. So it sounds like you knew all along that there were. The one in my city was specifically advertised to tell on neighbors.

I’m sorry if you don’t find me civilized. However, over the years, I’ve spent quite a lot of time looking up links for which people ask, and the game almost invariably ends up being, ‘Not a valid source’ I’ve had that said about CDC, or any other government site. I’m no longer willing to play that game in the case where these things are easily findable. Ten seconds.

When I read a claim online, I frequently do a ten second search and very quickly find either exactly what the person claimed or find a refutation.

Furthermore, some of what you asked for is actually fairly common knowledge, so I’m sorry but I consider it a game to ask for proof (which will almost certainly be dismissed as ‘invalid source’) of things that have been all over the internet for weeks or even months. It’s disingenuous.

 

[pnewton]

On the bright side, a lot of the protest were outside, under the sun, and exposed to intense UV radiation.

 

[Freddy]

I’ll just assume you didn’t lose your job or close down your business due the pandemic? You can trivialize other people catastrophes all you want, but that is hardly the right thing to do.

It wasn’t a trivialisation. It was a comparison. If people want to risk their health by speeding (or gathering in large groups with no face masks) then it doesn’t excuse you from obeying the speed limit (or following government mandated health regulations).

‘Hey, lots of other people are doing it! Why can’t I?’ I’m sure anyone with young children will recognise that argument.

 

[Freddy]

On the bright side, a lot of the protest were outside, under the sun, and exposed to intense UV radiation.

But hopefully not ingesting disinfectant as well.

 

[Lost_sheep2]

Yeah, because of the restrictions on the number of people if everyone were to go to Mass every Sunday we would have to have probably 30 Sunday Masses. Not really doable so each person can only go once a month.

 

[AlNg]

Is there any evidence of overcounting

Yes there is from my discussions with people who work at the local hospitals.

 

[AlNg]

Who conducted this scam, and for what reason?

The WHO was part of the problem creating mass hysteria and panic as they did in 2009 concerning the influenza. For what reason? To increase their prestige and monetary funding.
Please read:

https://www.deadlymedicines.dk/wp-content/uploads/G%C3%B8tzsche-The-Coronavirus-mass-panic-is-not-justified.pdf

On the bright side, a lot of the protest were outside, under the sun, and exposed to intense UV radiation.

Why do they ticket you if you are at the beach not protesting, but if you are protesting you are Ok. Is the virus able to stay away from the protesters but only infect those who are not protesting?

 

[PetraG]

This whole notion that they [masks, social distancing etc.] are not necessary will only lead to lost lives. Virologists, doctors, and related professionals around the world agree with that. This is the same thinking that led natives to chase “Doctors without borders,” out of Ebola ridden villages in Africa.

This boils down to “if you can’t see it, it can’t hurt you” thinking. There were people in 1918 who felt that way too.

Well, in 1918 they didn’t know what a virus was and didn’t have masks that did much good.

Yes, now as then, physical distancing is a better way to prevent the transmission of this virus than masks. The louder the voices and the longer the time people are near each other, the greater the distance from one household to another ought to be.

Honestly, any protest during a pandemic ought to be a silent protest held outdoors with a LOT of physical distancing. It isn’t summer camp.

 

[TMC]

The WHO was part of the problem creating mass hysteria and panic as they did in 2009 concerning the influenza. For what reason? To increase their prestige and monetary funding.

That makes no sense to me. Why did the health officials of dozens of countries just go along with the WHO? They have the ability to do their own research and analysis - and most did. Are they also in on the scam?

 

[Socrates92]

Makes sense

 

[Usagi]

meltzerboy2:

Who says the lockdown was a scam?

I think it was.

I think, after all this is over, history might conclude that some measures were overdoing it (or possibly that we weren’t doing enough – we just don’t know yet). But I think everyone involved in responding to the pandemic was at least trying to do the best they could with the information that was coming in to end up with as few dead citizens as possible.

Do you think numerous elected officials – who are rather dependent on the goodwill of their constituents – ordered the closing of schools and businesses and a general reordering of people’s lives for fun?

 

[PetraG]

I think, after all this is over, history might conclude that some measures were overdoing it (or possibly that we weren’t doing enough – we just don’t know yet). But I think everyone involved in responding to the pandemic was at least trying to do the best they could with the information that was coming in to end up with as few dead citizens as possible.

Do you think numerous elected officials – who are rather dependent on the goodwill of their constituents – ordered the closing of schools and businesses and a general reordering of people’s lives for fun ?

This reminds me of those who think there is some “scam” in telling people there is a hurricane coming. It is not as if it is not worth warning people until your science is so certain that you can’t make a mistake. Yet what happens if a snowstorm or an ice storm is predicted and doesn’t happen?
Immunology, epidemiology and public health research have saved a great many lives. That doesn’t mean the state of understanding has been perfected or something.

 

[Usagi]

Why do they ticket you if you are at the beach not protesting, but if you are protesting you are Ok. Is the virus able to stay away from the protesters but only infect those who are not protesting?

Have you been following the police response to the protests? In a lot of places, they’ve been doing considerably worse than “ticketing” people, even to peaceful protesters.

I do think there needs to be mention of COVID risks in conjunction with the protests, just as there was about going to church and the like – the virus doesn’t care about the righteousness of your cause. And just as we told the people who wanted to go to church, it’s not so much about whether they are willing to risk their lives as whether they’re willing to risk the lives of everyone else the people in that service – or at that protest – comes into contact with.

On the other hand, given the circumstances that gave rise to the protests, I can understand a reluctance – and also likely a practical impossibility – to lecture people about the proper way to do things in the midst of their pain and anger.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

We will see just how necessary social distancing, masks and not gathering in protest crowds is in a month or so.

 

[Usagi]

A gatherings risk doesn’t change based on what the protest is about. Why can’t other protests be permitted under the same conditions?

If you look at the actual response by the authorities to the anti-lockdown protests a couple weeks ago and the current protests, the former group definitely fared better, even when they entered government buildings armed and directly confronted police. The comments made about them in (some) media may have been nastier, but in terms of actual treatment and what was “permitted,” well, we have pictures and video of both.

 

[AlNg]

Do you think numerous elected officials – who are rather dependent on the goodwill of their constituents – ordered the closing of schools and businesses and a general reordering of people’s lives for fun ?

I don’t think it was necessary and it was overreacting. 35 million people thrown out of work is a disaster. How many people have dropped dead because of stroke or stress at having been left with no job and ordered to stay at home? And why does the virus only affect people who are not protesting or not looting? I see at the funeral people were not practicing social distancing and at the protests they do not practice social distancing. Do you really believe that the virus does not affect people who are protesting or attending the funeral of Mr. Floyd? but it affects everyone else?
Please read:

https://www.deadlymedicines.dk/wp-content/uploads/G%C3%B8tzsche-The-Coronavirus-mass-panic-is-not-justified.pdf

On the other hand, given the circumstances that gave rise to the protests, I can understand a reluctance – and also likely a practical impossibility – to lecture people about the proper way to do things in the midst of their pain and anger.

How is that? Won’t this rejection of social distancing cause hundreds of people to die and thousands of people to get sick? Why not be concerned about their lives? Aren’t their lives worth something?

 

[Peeps]

Yes there is from my discussions with people who work at the local hospitals.

I work in a hospital lab (and we do the counting!). Absolutely, errors have been made, and cases counted several times. No one will ever know the mess behind the scenes–that’s not the kind of story that any journalist will break because it would mean the end of his/her job. It’s just not the kind of thing that the public should know because it would cause panic and distrust of the medical world.

Don’t get me wrong–people who were positive with COVID-19 were correctly diagnosed by the test (performed by lab techs like me) and treated with great compassion by the health professionals, and likewise for those who were negative.

What went haywire was the clerical stuff–the record-keeping, the actual process of getting people tested and getting the results of the tests to the physicians and their patients in a timely way. At one point in our hospital, a thousand tests were in limbo (State Lab issues, not our labl), and only after a few weeks–WEEKS!–did the mess get ironed out and people got their results.

Just yesterday, my supervisor said to me and other techs in our department, “I am so over this whole COVID mess.” She’s the one who has had to put up with the slapstick antics of the COVID Central Command Committee in our hospital. We all knew they would flail when they didn’t include anyone from the hospital lab on their precious committee.

What’s awful is that someone is going to have to pay for all this–guess who? (Answer–taxpayers–that’s YOU!).

And by the way, any journalist or curious person who wants to dig into this will get the Great Stone Face from health care professionals like me. You don’t hang your dirty underwear on the clothesline outdoors, do you? You only hang CLEAN underwear out where people can see it. (Chances are good that most of you never hang laundry outdoors, but put it in a dryer in your laundry room or basement!)

 

[MikeInVA]

We will see just how necessary social distancing, masks and not gathering in protest crowds is in a month or so.

And let’s remember that the purpose of the lockdown, etc. was not to eradicate the disease but to prevent patients from overwhelming the medical facilities in our country.